Buffalo Tops mass shooting remembered on 1st anniversary

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The bell tolled 13 times after people observed a moment of silence Sunday to remember the 10 people killed and three wounded racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket a year ago.

Mayor Byron Brown read the names of the victims near Tops Friendly Market, where a gunman opened fire on May 14, 2022. Top New York politicians, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, attended a Mother’s Day memorial service.

“It’s a great day. It’s Mother’s Day,” said Hachul. “And the cruel irony is that the day we celebrate the life that comes into this world by making someone a mother is also the day we’re here to think about those who are no longer with us. It’s tough. It’s been a really tough year.”

Earlier this week, panellists discussed ways to tackle racism and social media radicalisation, and residents were invited to weigh in at an outdoor public meeting.

A year after the shooting, the relatives of the victims spoke before the Congress on white supremacy and gun reform and organized action to address the food insecurity problem that worsened when the market, the only grocery store in the neighborhood, was unavailable for two months.

President Joe Biden honored the lives of those who died in Buffalo in a published article published Sunday in USA Today. He called on Congress and state legislative leaders to take action by banning automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring background checks on all gun sales, and ending gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability. His administration passed landmark gun action in June after a series of mass shootings.

New York state law already prohibits the possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Gun control organizations and advocates, including Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, held nearly 200 events across the country over the weekend calling on Congress to restore a bipartisan ban on assault weapons.

In Buffalo, Wayne Jones, whose mother, Celestine Chaney, 65, died in the attack, urged the city and its agencies to continue investing in the area and its residents even after the anniversary events are over.

So he’s willing, he said, to “continue to open up this wound that I have” and talk about it.

The son of 63-year-old shooting victim Geraldine Talley released a book on Sunday that he says describes what he went through after losing his mother. He called it, “5/14: The Day the Devil Came to Buffalo.”

“I know for a fact that she wouldn’t want me to be surrounded by sadness and anger,” Telly said of his mother, talking outside the store as the anniversary approached, “so I’ll definitely try to find strength in her memory and use what I’ve been struggling with all my life.” injustice and racism in her name.”

Inside the renovated store, fountains surround a poem dedicated to the victims. A commission is working to develop a project for a permanent memorial outside. Meanwhile, a hand-painted mural that overlooks the parking lot promotes unity: a black hand and a white hand meeting together in prayer.

The store was closed Sunday in memory of the shooting.

The 18-year-old white supremacist carried out the attack after driving more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from his home in rural Conklin, New York.

In addition to Chaney and Tully, the dead included Andre McNeil, who was buying a cake for his son’s third birthday; Church Deacon Hayward Patterson; community advocate Catherine Massey; Ruth Whitfield, whose son was the Buffalo Fire Commissioner; Roberta Drury, who returned to Buffalo to help her brother diagnosed with cancer; church missionary Pearl Young; Margus Morrison, who bought dinner for the family movie; and Aaron Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer who worked as a security guard.

The attacker pleaded guilty to murder and other charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in February. A federal case against him is pending.

Associated Press writer Mason Khan in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.